A new racism row has broken out over comments on radio by Sir Bob Jones that he could not believe there were still beggars in New Zealand. He said, "They're a bloody disgrace. They're an eyesore, it's a disgrace in a modern society that fat people - that fat Maoris as they mostly are - are lying on our streets of our city begging." It will come as no surprise that he was then accused of racism by the progressive left on social media, and in an article on the Herald Online, which is where I first read of the row.​By the time I had come to write this piece, the Herald Online article had been removed and I could no longer find the link. However, from memory the headline read something like “Maori hurt by racist comments from Sir Bob Jones”. The article continued with Auckland City Mission head, Chris Ferrelly, accusing Sir Bob Jones of taking the ‘easy option’ of racially stereotyping all beggars as ‘fat Maoris’. It is hardly an ‘easy’ option to criticise Maori in politically correct New Zealand as we shall see.

After removing the original online article the Herald issued a more sanitised version and offered the following correction and apology after being contacted by Sir Bob.

​Correction and apology: An earlier version of this story and headline stated Sir Bob Jones had described the "homeless" as a disgrace to society. Jones has written to the Herald to state he was referring to beggars, not the homeless. The Herald regrets the error and apologises to Jones.

​The Herald then brought in its only remaining journalist, Bernard Orsman, to clean up the mess after its own online poll showed overwhelmingly support for making begging illegal. Gone were the accusations of racism and the original comments from Chris Ferrelly. Instead the following article was published.

The Auckland City Mission agrees with property magnate Sir Robert Jones on the need to rid city streets of beggars.​​"We share a common vision here. Sir Bob wants people off the street. So do we," city missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald.

​It went on to trot out one of the usual apologists from the elites in the state funded universities specialising in ‘social justice’, who blamed poverty, lack of funding etc. etc. as the root cause of the problem rather than focus on the beggars themselves who are little more than organised gangs of crooks demanding money with menaces. Individual responsibility was not mentioned.

In another article this appeared.

Mary-Jane Shepherd said: "As a Maori New Zealander, I am saddened and disappointed to hear yet another public example of casual racism by a prominent New Zealander.

"It concerns me that men who are looked up to by the public and have earned the privilege of being knighted speak so cruelly and spitefully of Maori people. Sir Bob talks of [beggars] being fat Maori who are uneducated and yet provides no hard evidence for us when making such a provocative statement.​"These words of Sir Bob's hurt me and hurt my people. They hurt all of us.''

Speak for yourself. ​Of course she was ‘hurt’. She, and those like her, spend their lives being perpetually ‘hurt’ which is why they are referred to around the world as ‘snowflakes’ – insubstantial, ephemeral and turn to water as soon as they are touched. They used to be called cry babies.

The truth can certainly hurt, and the truth is that most of the beggars are not homeless but are part of an organised extortion racket. They squat outside ATMs and high viz retail outlets preying on passers by, sometimes demanding money with menaces. They are frequently overweight or obese Maoris.

Once you use the term Maori in a less than flattering context it is almost inevitable that you will be accused of that great shibboleth of the progressive left, ‘racism’. It is the ritual term of abuse to be used against all those bold enough to challenge any current leftist orthodoxy. So if you challenge ‘climate change’ you’re a racist; if you challenge the tribal separatist agenda you’re a racist; if you think capitalism not big government has delivered the world from poverty you are a racist; if you think Donald Trump is good for the USA you are a racist; if you think mass immigration from the middle east can be harmful you are, sin of sins, a racist AND an Islamaphobe. And so it goes on. It’s all so predictable, so boring, so lacking in honesty, so tiresome, so juvenile. The net effect has been to render the word meaningless. If you think about it, it has always been. There is only one ‘race’, the human race. After that we are all mongrels.

Making begging illegal is the only way beggars can be removed from the streets. The enablers, especially those on Auckland Council like Cathy Casey, who bleat on about the ‘poor and homeless’, are the ones who disadvantage the truly homeless by allowing the criminals to thrive.

Sir Bob Jones is known for being a straight shooter, calling a spade a spade. Not for him the ritualistic apologies demanded by the rabid left. Not for him the PR companies making matters worse. No, he has stood his ground and fought back. It is the only way to deal with the progressive left. It is the Herald that has had to apologise and remove its article.

The real lesson here is that in order to meet the challenges of society people must be free to speak out. Silencing people by accusing them of being racist only works when they believe it. The good news is that more people around the world are standing their ground and refusing to accept the labels placed on them by the progressive left. Only in this way will the pernicious doctrine of political correctness be defeated. It is only when there is honest, open debate that society can tackle its social problems and find solutions.

I'm familiar with a "little gang of crooks", meaning beggars, I watched them grow up. I lived close enough to them and being someone who will talk to anyone I know some of their stories, told by them and by friends and neighbors of their families and in some cases I witnessed their most private and painful stories in real life. Most New Zealanders don't realise that there are 3rd generation street kids in this country. A lot of New Zealanders don't know that there are middle-class white men who will pay for a young-looking pretty-boy and keep him drugged or entire weekends while they beat and rape him. Of course not, because sexual abuse and rape leave so much shame upon a victim that they are never going to tell anyone who doesn't know about these things. One girl who begs was raped and abused her entire childhood, as was her beloved sister whom she found hanging at when she was 10 years old. Maybe shes a weak person for never recovering from that. She hustles men for money but when we gave her some she cried and so did we, because we knew how hard life was for her. I've driven a drugged boy to mental health, stinking of rape and drugs and seen him covered in bruises. I don't blame or begrudge them a cent, in fact I admire them, so brave and still alive, survivors. Their stories are private and they don't want to be seen as victims...but they don't really give a damn what people like you think about them either and they shouldn't ever have to explain themselves to you, and call themselves victims or damaged just so that you might understand how much they've survived just to still exist. I have a terrible feeling you wont publish this comment, it's too distasteful, but it is the truth. But comfortable people don't like to hear nasty stories and so the abuse continues, because its more distasteful to hear about these things than admit they happen and be a little more compassionate.

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Arthur Kane Equal Human Rights. on twitter

20/1/2017 07:17:15 pm

I have been sent a text by C/D Fowler Wellington police asking for an interview. Got contact phone from Hamilton police.Left answerphone message. I only use phone for emergency phone calling.TxT could have gone UN-noticed. I do not even have a speed or parking ticket.
I have many interests and am 84 years young.